Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in 6.0 Review, Photos, Swatches

OK, so Urban Decay doesn’t actually call this a foundation; it’s a Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup. Whatever. All you need to know is it’s amazing. End post.

Not really, but it is seriously amazing. I used to swear by Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation, but this new Naked Skin is quickly edging its way into my heart. There’s room for both of youse! Shiseido for my full-coverage days, Urban Decay for my lighter coverage days. Yes… a pair made in heaven…

I wear the Naked Skin in 6.0, but honestly the shade selection is so forgiving that I could go as low as 4.0 without too much trouble. This is not one of those foundations you’d have to retire when the seasons changed (i.e., when you get more tan or more light).
The numbering convention uses decimal places to indicate whether a shade is cool- or warm-toned: if it ends in .0, it is warm and if it ends in .5, it is cool. Easy peasy.
It also has a great range of shades, so I think even if you’re on the far end of the spectrum and normally have trouble finding a shade, you may find your match in Naked Skin. I will caution that the undertones run true — if you have a mix of undertones, you may find an otherwise matching shade does not match your undertones.

The bottle has a hygienic airless pump to distribute foundation, and the pump is actually designed very well — I can control exactly how much I want to come out. About a half-pump to whole pump is sufficient to cover my whole face.

Following are swatches of the foundation under natural light, and then under a daytime bulb. On the far left, I have it gently blended in, a swatch in the middle, and a half-pump amount on the right.

Paired with Urban Decay’s arsenal of prepping and priming products, the wear time is astounding. I used the Pore-Perfecting Primer as a base, and set it with De-Slick setting spray, and it survived a full 18 hours of being out and about. I had basically no transfer, and even my normally greaseball T-zone was behaving nice.
It claims to provide a demi-matte finish, which I definitely agree with. It is softly matte, not skin-suckingly so and on the days I wore it solo, it didn’t even require a setting powder although I did have the oilies break out around hour 6 (typical for me). Unfortunately, once the oilies came through, it did start to break down and lose its steam, so this is one foundation that greatly benefits from a good primer.

I read on several other blogs that reviewers noticed it had a strong makeup smell. This is true. However. It is makeup. So… I’m not sure what else to say there.

It is also oil-free, fragrance-free and paraben-free. (For the sake of this post, I will not launch into my parabens-in-makeup-being-NBD rant.) The side of the box has some blurb about the supposedly good-for-you stuff in the foundation, but with the exception of green tea extracts, I couldn’t find any literature to back up the other claims (like their proprietary Matrixyl 3000 peptides or Litchiderm complex), so the jury’s out on that for now.

Now, it is a sheerer foundation. If you have very uneven skin tone, or lots of dark spots, you may not be happy with the coverage (sans concealer, of course). That’s just the way the cookie rolls. (I love mangling idioms.) It’s meant to provide a natural, second skin finish and I wouldn’t expect more than a medium coverage out of it. You’ll want to look for another foundation for fuller coverage.
On that note, I think this is a great starter foundation for people who are new to makeup, and would like a lighter-coverage makeup.

Other cons? The bottle’s frackin’ huge.

Definitely not a travel- or eco-friendly size, especially when you consider it has the exact same amount of foundation (1.0 oz) as the Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation. But that’s a relatively minor nitpick.

One more tidbit about it: it’s sunscreen-free. This is a pro for several reasons. First, it won’t give off a white cast in flash photography, making it a great option for photoshoots. Second, people who are sensitive to certain types of sunscreen don’t have to worry about possible allergic reactions and can use their own sun protection. However, that leads to the potential con. Sun protection is so, so, so important. It’s basically the number one thing we can do to prevent early signs of aging, as well as prevent skin cancer. Therefore, if you wear this foundation during the day, it is imperative to use a sunscreen underneath.

OK, enough sunscreen proselytizing. This is a great foundation, from one of my favorite companies. There’s not much more I can say about it, except it’s awesome, I love it, yay!

In unrelated news, I totally have to build myself a lightbox. The lighting in my new place is awful.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation is available in 18 shades for $38.

Disclaimer: I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. All opinions are my own.